Bottle carrier



June 6, 1950 M. L. EVERHART BOTTLE CARRIER 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed March 5, 1947 June 6, 1950 M. 1.. EVERHART 2,510,392

BOTTLE CARRIER 2 Sheefs-Sheet 2 Filed March 5, 1947 gvwcmlow Patented June 6, 1950 BOTTLE CARRIER Marcel.- L... Everhart', Washington,

oi one-half. to: Daniel. Holland,

D; C.., assignor;

Washington,

Application-'Marohfi, 1947, SerialNo. 732564 4: Claims.

Thisinvention. relates to a lmttle handling. device, and it relates more particularlyrtoza de vice. for picking up a group of bottles so that" they. may be. easiiytransferred. to another posi-- tion. and. deposited at. thesecond position while. maintaining the bottles of: the groupin:. their original alignment and relative spacing:

In; the. beverage industry; and particularly in. the soft drink industry; the beveragebottlesaarer usually handled in. casescontaihing, twenty iour bottles. The bottles: are equally spaced. in;- the; casein six transverse. rows-oi; four bottles-.ineacha row. Since the bottles. in. these industries: arere:-used for deliveryof the beverage. 130 1711956011- sumer, it is, or course. necessary that; they; be: handled from timetotime such as in the bottle; washing and sterilizing operation. All beverage bottling plants have large bottle washing: ma chines through which the bottles are carried on conveyers. turned to the bottling plant,- they arerdepositedi When the empty' bottles are: ne.--

upon: the conveyer of the; bottle'washing-machine;.

and this operation has heretofore been pen-- formed manually by: an attendant who; transfers: two bottles at a time with each hand fromxthev case to the conveyor of the. bottle washing'mae chine;

Itis. apparent, therefore, that the present practice is alaborious one; which: requires; a? single attendant to-work' at top speied; or as. an" alternative two attendants" must be employed; thereby increasing the cost of the operation.

It: therefore; an. object. of this invention. to: provide a bottle transfer device by the use of which a single attendant is enabled to transfer: the bottles from the incoming cases; to $01119: other position such as the conveyer of a bottle washing machine.

In its specific embodiment the invention" contemplates a device by means of which the attendant may transfer twelve bottles in a single easy operation. However; the number of bottles" for which the device is designed is not of particular importance so long as it is adapted to handle. a plurality of bottles. at each operation.

Other objects and. advantages. of the. invention will become clear. as the. specific description thereof proceeds;- with reference: to: the 81GB compan-ying drawing in.- which Fig. 1. is a. perspective View of thebottlertrans fer device;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal: sectional; view;

his.. a; is. a trans-verse; sectionat. iew;

t respond generally in Fig. 5 is a. detail view. showing" oneformzoii' bottle gripping blades; and

Fig. 6 is a. detail view of adifierentttype of; bottle gripping blades.

In. substance the device: consists of a: rectangular frame; it); which iscomposed' or: side memebersl2 and. M and-'end'members: lliand- |;8; The:- sidemem-bers l2 and [dare or'suchdengthiastoc adapt the deviceto the: width of. the conven;-- tional bottle case;. The-lengthen. the endime-m bers Hi and: IZB: fixed; by. the predetermined: capacity of the: device. Thus,. if: it? is; designed: to' handle" a. whole: case of" bottles: at: a. sin leoperation, theend members; Iii-and 8.8. will corlength to: the: length: of. a conventionalbottlecase: In; the exemplary em bodiment' of. the.- invention: shown:- herei-nf the: length of the end? members: Ha, and; I 81 isaapprox-ie matelyhalf? the lengthof. the conventionalbottlercase; the embodiment of the'deviceheree in is designed to handle three transversmrows of bottles at a-single-operation:

The end Walls Iii. and. la carryfour spaced. parallel rods 28; 2 2, 24 and. 25'. These rods. are. suitably fixed to. the endrwalls. Ni. and, 1.8,. and hereirrsuch fixing structure consists? of. sockets. inthe end-Walls for receiving. therespective. ends oi -therods.Zlthrouehfifi.

Each of the transverse parallel rods-.211 through. 26 carriesa. plurality of; bottle gripping bladesl2=8i constituting a. set. In. the. specific. disclosureT hereinx there. is provided. aseparategri-pping blade. for each. bottle. inthe transverse row. In other words. there are four separate. ripping, blades. supported. on eachoi. theparallel. rods,,.each blade.

' being: separated. fromtheadiacentoneby aspac.

ing washer. Furthermore, the twainwardly. dis.- posed rods. carryoppositely. extending. gripping blades. While the two outer rods. carry only. a singleset of inwardly. extendin gripping, blades, As. a. consequence. of the. structure. there. is. provided a...p air of confronting gripping blades for each bottle neck Within the group. of bottles" for which the mechanism is designed.

Each, gripping blade. is, biased downwardly. by means of-spring arms 30, which bear-againstthe upper'surface of the respective blades; In the instant disclosure the spring armsware the' end extensions of a coil spring 32 surrounding the gripping blade supporting rod. It willbe'cl'ear. therefore, that the gripping bl'ad'es 2-8 are urged downwardly, which is the normal bottle grip-'- pingposition. On-the other'handthey are rroetm swing upwardly into. a bottle admitting position whenthe device. is in. operation} It. is; contema plated that the bottles be engaged about their necks by the gripping blades 28 merely by positioning the device over a group of aligned bottles and applying suificient pressure against the crowns of the bottles to force the gripping blades into open or bottle receiving position. Upon re-' lease of the downward pressure the gripping blades will engage the neck of the associated bottles and support them for transport to a second position.

The mechanism includes means for quick and easy release of the bottles, and herein that mechanism consists of a pair of end supports 3:3 and 36. These supports are positioned adjacent the inner face of the end members 15 and i8, respectively. Carried by the end supports 3% and 36 are a plurality of rods 33, which underlie the bottle gripping blades 28. By reference to Fig. 4 it will be seen that the gripping blade support rods 28, 22, 24 and 26 extend through slots 40 formed in the end supports 34 and 36. These slots permit the end supports 34 and 36 together with their attached rods 38 to move relative to the frame Ill.

The underlying rods 38 limit the downward movement of the gripping blades 28, but their principal function is to effect the release of bottles held in the mechanism, and such release is easily brought about by shifting the position of the end supports 34 and 36 with relation to the main frame l0. Thus, when an operator grips the end walls of the frame l and depresses it with reference to the end supports 34 and 36, the underlying rods 38 will effectively move the gripping blades upwardly against the tension of the spring arms 30. Since the distance between the ends of the confronting gripping blades is increased by this manipulation, the bottles are released, and they may thereby be deposited in their second position without disturbing the original alignment thereof.

The conventional bottle which is used for beverages such as the various carbonated soft drinks or beer is of the crowned type, i. e., the mouth of the bottle is formed with a, crown in the nature of an annular rim adapted to receive a crimped closure cap. Below the crown is a slightly bulbous formation in an annular direction, which results in a second protuberance. In Figs. and 6 is illustrated the neck portion of a conventional beverage bottle, and in these figures the crown portion 42 defines the mouth or pouring opening of the bottle. Immediately below the crown 42 is an annular groove 44, and from that point the neck of the bottle flares outwardly as at 45, thereby defining a second annular groove 48 immediately below.

In the simplest form of the invention the bottle gripping blades 28 may be formed with bevelled bottle engaging edges 50 which are adapted to engage either the annular depression 44 immediately below the crown of the bottle or the annular depression 48 which is located slightly lower on the neck of the bottle.

. The bottle gripping blades may be modified as suggested in Fig. 6 of the drawing wherein the blades 52 are provided with an edge configuration adapted to embrace each bottle neck at two points. Thus, the blades are provided with an outer angular edge 54 and an inwardly spaced angular edge 56 so that the outer edge 56 may engage the annular groove 44 immediately below the lip of the bottle while the inwardly positioned edge. .56 may engage the annular depression 48,

4 which is located a slight distance downwardly on the neck of the bottle.

From the foregoing it will appear that the device is of extremely simple construction and that its operation requires no skill whatever. The specific mode of use has been developed as this specification has proceeded, and a recapitulation thereof does not seem required.

Having described the invention in one operative form, I claim the following:

1. A bottle carrier, comprising a frame having side members and end members, parallel rods extending between said end members, a plurality of bottle gripping blades constituting a set mounted on each of said rods for angular movement thereabout, the blades of each set being arranged on said rods in transverse alignment with blades of the other sets, thereby presenting spaced confronting free edges, resilient means urging said blades angularly about said rods, a supporting rod underlying the blades of each set thereby limiting the angular movement of said blades under the influence of said resilient means, and means for simultaneously moving said supporting rods against said blades in opposition to the force of said resilient means.

2. A bottle carrier, comprising a frame having side members and end members, parallel rods extending between said end members, a plurality of bottle gripping blades constituting a set mounted on each of said rods for angular movement thereabout, the blades of each set being arranged on said rods in transverse alignment with blades of the other sets, thereby presenting spaced confronting free edges, a spring associated with each blade for independently urging said blades angularly about said rods, an actuating member movably mounted with respect to each of said end members, supporting rods having their ends supported in said actuating members and underlying the blades of each set thereby limiting the angular movement of said blades under the influence of said resilient means, and means for moving said actuating members to simultaneously press said rods against said blades in opposition to the force of said springs.

3. A bottle carrier, comprising a frame having side members and end members, parallel rods extending between said members, a plurality of bottle gripping blades constituting a set mounted on each of said rods for angular movement thereabout, the blades of each set being arranged on said rods in transverse alignment with blades of the other sets, thereby presenting spaced confronting free edges, resilient means urging said blades angularly about said rods, an end support mounted against the inner face of each of said end members, blade supporting rods extending longitudinally along the under side of each set of blades and having their ends mounted in said end supports, and slots in said end supports straddling said parallel rods whereby said end supports and said supporting rods may be moved relative to said frame for angularly rotating said blades against the force of said resilient means.

4. A bottle carrier, comprising a frame having side members and end members, parallel rods extending between said members, a plurality of bottle gripping blades constituting a set mounted on each of said rods for angular movement thereabout, the blades of each set being arranged on said rods in transverse alignment with blades of the other sets, thereby presenting spaced confronting free edges, 2, spring associated with each blade for independently urging said blade angu- 6 larly about said rods, an end support mounted REFERENCES CITED agamst the mner a of each of P end m The following references are of record in the bers, blade supportmg rods extending longltudime of this patent; nally along the under side of each set of blades and having their ends mounted in said end sup- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS ports, and slots in said end supports straddling Number Name Date said parallel rods whereby said end supports and 2,140,314 Doscher Dec. 13, 1938 said supporting rods may be moved relative to said frame for angularly rotating said blades against the force of said springs. 10

MARCEL L. EVERI-IART. 

